December 14, 2012

Connecticut: We are mourning our dead, again

The 20 children massacred at Sandy Hook, Connecticut Elementary School - this is the third time we have lost children.

Last Christmas day we woke up to hear the news that three girls and their grandparents had died in an early morning fire in Stamford. Their mother Madonna Badger made it out of the house but probably will never be able to exit her grief. We understood why she tried suicide. Now she is out of the state working with a grief counselor. For Christmas she is going to Thailand to be with children in an orphanage.

Before that the family of Dr. Petit were living in peace and harmony in Cheshire. Then two thugs invaded their home. The mother was strangled. The two young daughters died of smoke inhalation in a fire. The father survived and attended the trials of both men who are now on death row. He has begun to put together the pieces of a life after such a tragedy.

The parents of the 20 children will face unspeakable agony. Connecticut is with them. There is silence around the state tonight. We are bearing witness to their pain.